


Welcome to the Club

by raphrodo



Series: Coming Out [1]
Category: IT Crowd
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Other, Roy is an asshole but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2015-11-28
Packaged: 2018-05-03 20:56:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5306501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raphrodo/pseuds/raphrodo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jen comes out. At this point no one is surprised. (Part of a series of IT Crowd coming-out ficlets)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to the Club

**Author's Note:**

> This comes mostly from some of the in-depth IT Crowd discussions I've had with my friend Dirk, so really he deserves partial credit.
> 
> Also for some reason I'm writing these out of order so Jen is the last one of the trio to come out.

Jen grabbed her jacket, frowning at the clock. The work day wasn’t really quite over yet, and she wasn’t supposed to meet Karen for another hour and a half, but she was anxious to go home and change.

“Personally, Jen, I never found that clock all that fascinating, but I’m glad to see you’ve taken an interest in it. I’ve been thinking you needed a new hobby. Help relieve stress, you know.” Roy wasn’t even looking at her but he was smirking behind his computer.

“Oh, shut up.” Jen tried to brush him off, then thought a moment. “Do you think I should just leave now? I need time to figure out what to wear…”

“Uh… wear to what, now? If it’s a party I have to say I’m a little offended that I wasn’t invited. Unless it’s a fancy dress party, I hate those.”

“It’s not a party,” Jen assured him. “I’m supposed to meet up with Karen later.”

Roy stood up and crossed his arms, grinning. “Ah, of course. Your new girlfriend.”

Moss was just coming back into the office from a call upstairs. “Are you talking about Karen?” he asked. Jen made an offended noise.

“Yes, Jen has a date with her tonight. It’s going to be very romantic.”

“So _that’s_ why she’s been staring at the clock all day!”

 _“Excuse me,”_ Jen said firmly, glaring at both of them. “Karen is _not_ my girlfriend. I can have friends without being romantically interested in them, you know. That’s a thing that normal people do. And I’m not a lesbian,” she added quickly.

Roy and Moss were still smirking at each other. “Whatever you say, Jen,” Moss assured her.

Roy shook his head slightly. “It’s just … it does seem a bit gay, you know. You seem very excited to spend time with her, more than you do with your other friends.”

“My _other_ friends,” Jen explained calmly, “are a couple of geeks who spend all day playing video games and laughing at dick jokes. I’m excited because I’m finally able to be around someone I can have a real conversation with.”

Moss frowned. “I think we have real conversations. I thought you liked talking to us.”

“She’s just embarrassed, Moss, she’s trying to turn it around on us. She’s upset that we figured out she’s gay for Karen.”

“Stop saying that!” Jen shouted, putting on her jacket after all. “You two are behaving like twelve-year-olds. I’m going home and getting changed.” She stepped briskly past them and out the door.

“Have a nice time on your date, Jen!” Moss called out after her. She was going to murder both of them.

 

************************

 

Jen looked at herself in the mirror for the eleventh time. She looked nice, she thought. Her top didn’t fit exactly the way she would like, and she could never get her hair quite right, but still she looked… fine. Not terrible. Maybe she should try one more outfit, though…

 _Jesus, why am I worrying so much?_ she thought. _Karen’s not the judgmental type. I mean, just because she always looks completely flawless…_ Jen was a bit disconcerted by the fluttery feeling in her stomach just then. She was definitely not having those kinds of feelings for Karen. She wouldn’t give Moss and Roy the satisfaction. And anyway, she was completely and totally straight. Not that there was anything wrong with being gay - she was supportive when those two both came out - but you either were or you weren’t, and she wasn’t.

And all this worrying about not having feelings for Karen was definitely not bringing images of them kissing to mind. Even if it was, they were just images. It’s not like she was fantasizing about it or anything. There was definitely nothing to worry about.

 

************************

 

Except that there was. Jen spent the entire evening questioning every thought she had and every gesture Karen made until she was entirely caught up in her own anxiety. She was aware she probably seemed incredibly rude for being so distant, but she just couldn’t focus.

“Oh, Jen, look!” Karen gushed, pointing a ways ahead of them on the pavement. “That is the sweetest little dog I have ever seen! Let’s go and say hello!” She grabbed Jen’s hand to pull her along, her dark hair trailing behind her, and Jen flushed slightly. She wasn’t usually the sort of person to run up and say hello to other people’s dogs. She didn’t talk to many strange animals at all, but the fact that Karen did was frustratingly endearing.

This particular dog was, in fact, perfectly average-looking. It was small and brownish, some sort of terrier, and its stumpy little tail never seemed to stop wagging. Jen didn’t dislike dogs, she was just more of a cat person really, but after Karen got permission from the grey-haired woman holding the leash, she started enthusiastically petting it, and Jen followed suit. Their fingers brushed up against each other a couple of times. Karen brightly chattered with the dog’s owner. Jen said nothing.

After they had moved on a few yards, Karen’s usual smile disappeared. “Jen…” she said unhappily. “Is anything wrong? You’ve been acting a bit strange, like -”

“Is this a date?” Jen was horrified to hear the words actually coming from her mouth. “I mean obviously it’s not because we never said it was, but could it be? I mean, if I were to ask you out, on a date, would that seem weird because what we’re doing right now is almost like a date but of course an actual date would be more, you know, but Roy did say this seemed a bit -”

“Jen, slow down,” Karen laughed. “Are you asking if I fancy you? Because… if you wanted to, I wouldn’t be against, you know… something happening between us. I do like you, Jen.” She seemed as cheerful and casual as ever. There was a slightly amused glint in her brown eyes.

“I…” Jen wasn’t sure what to say now. She felt confused and a little dizzy.

Karen leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on Jen’s cheek. “Come on, let’s get indoors somewhere and then we can talk.” She held Jen’s hand again as they moved quickly along the pavement.

 

************************

 

“Did you get Jen’s email?” Moss asked, sounding concerned. “What do you think she wants?”

Roy shrugged at his sandwich, trying to hide his own uneasiness about it. “Could be anything. All she said was she wants to talk to us both after lunch. She’s probably going to tell us to clean again or something.” Truthfully, he had been relieved when Moss suggested they have lunch in the park again. Being around Jen with A Serious Talk from her hanging over his head would have given him a panic attack.

“I don’t know… if that was it, wouldn’t she have just said so? It seems like it’s more important than that. I hope she’s not upset about something.”

“And what would she have to be upset about? Especially something that involves us? We haven’t done anything.”

Moss frowned at him. “Well, we have been teasing her about Karen. I think we may have crossed a line.”

Roy rolled his eyes. “I’m sure that’s not it, Moss. We all tease each other all the time. It’s all in good fun. Jen knows that.”

Moss glanced at his watch. “Well, either way, we’re about to find out. Let’s go back inside.”

“Hang on, I’m not done eating yet. Jen can wait.”

 

************************

 

“What took you so long?” Jen asked then the second they walked through the door.

“Roy was still eating,” Moss said to the floor.

“Well, sit down,” Jen commanded. “This is important.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Roy said sarcastically. He and Moss collapsed onto the sofa in unison.

Jen sat across from them, braced her hands on the coffee table, and took a few deep breaths. Roy already looked bored. Moss looked anxious. Another deep breath. “I hate to admit this to you two,” she began, “but I thought it was best to just get it out of the way. It’s not an easy thing for me to say out loud. I only, um, discovered it recently and I’m still not quite used to the idea.”

“Yeaahhh, can we hurry this up, Jen? I don’t have all day, I’m afraid.” Roy was inspecting a spot on his shirt, not even giving her the courtesy of looking at her.

Jen blinked at him. “Yes, you do.”

Roy shrugged. “Alright, true. But quit stalling and just come out with it.”

Jen wasn’t sure whether to be amused or disturbed by his choice of words. “Anyway….” she continued. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m… that is, I… Karen and I… well, I think I might be… not gay but. I might be bi.”

Silence. Jen was internally screaming at them both to just Say Something. Roy opened his mouth, and already she wished Moss had been the first to speak instead.

“Okay,” Roy said.

 _Okay? That was it?_ “You’re not going to say anything else?”

“Say what? We told you so? Congratulations? Welcome to the club? Honestly I’m just relieved you didn’t tell us to work.”

Jen looked at Moss. “And you?”

Moss smiled. “I’m proud of you, Jen. Roy is, too.”

That caught her off guard, but she smiled back at him. She turned back to Roy, who was now standing next to her and grinning. “Ah, come on,” Roy said and gave her a one-armed hug, motioning to Moss with his other arm.


End file.
